About

Cthulhu: Death May Die

$2,412,286

pledged of $200,000 goal

15,831

backers

Cthulhu: Death May Die is a cooperative board game for 1 to 5 players willing to take on the Cthulhu mythos like never before! Cultists are summoning one of the Elder Ones to consume our world, and it is up to the ragtag group of investigators to face the nightmarish forces and disrupt the ritual long enough to make the Elder One vulnerable. And then kill it dead.

Designed by Rob Daviau and Eric M. Lang, the game features monster artwork by Adrian Smith and investigator artwork by Karl Kopinski. Investigators come from all walks of life, each bringing a unique skill to the team, as well as two other generic skills.

Art by Karl Kopinski, sculpts by RN Estudio.

Madness is always at your side when battling unthinkable monstrosities from other dimensions. In fact, the investigators already start the game with a diagnosed insanity, which will will be triggered by your encounters with the occult. You may be doomed by your mental breakdown, or learn to use it to your advantage. The closer you are to losing your mind completely, the more powerful your skills will become.

Art by Filipe Pagliuso.

Summoning the Elder Gods are fanatic cultists, and the hosts of nightmarish monstrosities aiding them in their cause. Each of these enemies possesses its own special ability and combat strength. They are not controlled by any player, but instead have their behavior triggered by Mythos cards used for each specific episode.

The Death May Die core box contains smaller boxes that hold the modular elements to create each unique game session. Players choose one of the two available Elder Ones and combine their contents with those of one of the six available Episodes. Each of these boxes contain unique figures, tokens, and cards that are only used when playing with those elements. The Mythos deck used in each game is a combination of cards from the chosen Elder One box and the chosen Episode box. Each Episode not only indicates the map setup using the various tiles in the game, but also new actions the investigators can perform in order to accomplish the tasks required to disrupt that episode's ritual. They each also bring their own Discovery cards for players to explore, and the monsters' behaviors and abilities are tailored to each unique story.

Hastur, known as the King in Yellow, and his disciples brand the world with their terrible Yellow Sign. Those that suffer this doom quickly meet their fate by the hands of death or madness.

The Elder Ones start the game off the board; as they move along the summoning track their growing presence invites chaos and insanity into the world to accompany their grand awakening. Eventually they cross over and the real nightmare begins. If the investigators have managed to disrupt the ritual, the Elder One becomes vulnerable and may (just possibly) be killed for good. If not, the investigators now have to contend with an immortal behemoth hunting them while they try to accomplish their tasks. Either way, killing the Elder One will not be easy, not by a long shot, as each time it's bested it grows more enraged and powerful. In the end, either all investigators will fall or death will come for the Great Old One.

In their mission to thwart the cultist's plans, investigators engage in more than combat. If they can get some respite, they can discover all sorts of things to potentially help them in their tasks. Discovery cards are unique to each Episode, and present the investigators with challenges or choices that will grant them different resources, companions or negative effects.

Cthulhu: Death May Die core box comes with:

45 Highly-Detailed Plastic Figures

17 Terrain Tiles

30 Plastic Tentacle Tokens

8 Custom Dice

5 Counter Bases

10 Investigator Dashboards

186 Cards

120 Tokens

1 Rulebook

WIP Rulebook

Please be aware that this is a Work In Progress Rulebook. It is not final. Rules may still be tweaked and changed, layout and graphics may still be altered. So, if you see anything in here that isn't the same later, understand that during the Kickstarter the project is still in development and all aspects are subject to improvements.

Unspeakable Pledge - $100

Backers with an Unspeakable Pledge will receive a copy of the Cthulhu: Death May Die core box, the Kickstarter Exclusive Investigator Julia, plus all applicable Stretch Goals.

Sculpt by RN Estudio. Painting by Robert Karlsson.

Julia is an incredibly level-headed investigator. Given the extraordinary circumstances she finds herself in, it's amazing how she can keep her wits about her. Her unique skill allows her to take wounds instead of stress, greatly increasing her chances of success in any given encounter. Though it may cost her life in the end...

R'lyeh Rising Pledge - $250

Backers with a R'lyeh Rising Pledge will receive a copy of the Cthulhu: Death May Die core box, the Kickstarter Exclusive R'lyeh Rising expansion, and the Kickstarter Exclusive Investigator Julia, plus all applicable Stretch Goals.

As the production of this statue is extremely expensive and time-consuming, delivery of it will be staggered. However, all backers will receive the rest of the base pledge at the same time.

Check out THIS UPDATE for for answers to some pressing questions, extra gameplay information, and shipping cost estimates.

Let's not be coy, the heart and soul of the R'lyeh Rising expansion is its colossal figure of Cthulhu! This cyclopean creation is something never before seen in the world of board gaming. Its base is 44 x 44 cm wide, and it stands 57 cm tall to the tip of its wings. In fact, this thing is so huge that his base becomes the board on which the game is played! This plastic statue was sculpted in terrifying detail and will come pre-assembled, with the exception of the clip-on wings, so it can be proudly displayed for all to see.

Sculpt by Remy Tremblay (Julia figure included for scale).

R'lyeh Rising is a wholly unique Episode, the epic finale to Death May Die, not only bringing its own set of tokens, Discovery cards, Monster cards, and Mythos cards, but also drastic changes to the game's base rules, as the figures move and act freely upon the behemoth's rocky base.

Painting by Angel Giraldez (Cultist figures included for scale).

PLEASE NOTE ALL FIGURES COME UNPAINTED.

Note that anything marked with this:

is an exclusive item for Kickstarter backers, with remaining stock available through conventions and special promotions only.

The CMON team dives into a gameplay overview of Death May Die with Episode 1 - Blasphemous Alchemy:

Based on past experience, we will be charging shipping after the Kickstarter concludes based on the actual costs incurred to ship. We will collect this via our pledge manager after the campaign ends, using PayPal. This is so we can be fair to all our backers as shipping is rarely one size fits all, and also give you more stretch goodies and possibly a choice of carrier options.

We will ship your rewards at our cost to our international hubs. Depending on where in the world you are, we will either ship to you from our hub in the UK (EU backers), China (Asia Pacific backers), Canada (Canadian backers), Australia (Australia and New Zealand backers) or Atlanta (USA and the rest of the world). Following is a list of rough estimates for shipping a standard game package (4kg volumetric weight). Keep in mind these are just estimates, and costs may rise based on weight increases from unlocked stretch goals and any optional buys you choose.

USA: $10-$20 to most states. $50 to Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico.

CANADA: $15-$30 to most cities.

LATIN AMERICA: $70-$80 to most countries.

ASIA: $10 to China and Hong Kong. $35 to most other countries (we can’t predict an estimate cost to Malaysia). Backers in China, please read THIS UPDATE.

OCEANIA: $20-$45 to Australia. $40 to New Zealand.

AFRICA: $95 to most countries.

EUROPE: $20-$30 to most countries.

• $35 to Norway, Switzerland, Finland, Estonia, and Latvia.

• $50 to Bosnia/Herzegowina, Croatia, and Iceland.

• $70-$80 to Israel, Liechtenstein, and Serbia.

Unfortunately, different import laws and customs have made it impossible for CMON to ship games to certain specific countries.

*WE DO NOT SHIP TO:* Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Afghanistan.

Be aware that all pledges that are confirmed after the pledge manager deadline will be shipped from the US hub at a later date. For non-US backers that will likely incur increased shipping costs. We also cannot ship to PO Boxes domestically or internationally. Due to the size of each package there is too great a risk of the package being bounced back to us.

The table below gives you a general idea of the full schedule of what to expect once the campaign ends. Keep in mind these are just estimates, and the timeline may vary due to circumstances.

Risks and challenges

This is our 32nd Kickstarter, and there are some vagaries in terms of timing when it comes to anything produced in China, such as:
Production delays
Shipping delays
Customs delays

The estimated delivery date for this project is July 2019, but keep in mind this is only an estimate. Also, due to the logistics of international shipping, backers in different regions of the world may receive their rewards sooner than others.

We've done our best to minimize this as much as possible, and we are always happy to refund pledges if for some totally unforeseen reason the game can't be delivered at all. Since the game is 90% complete, we don't believe this is in the least bit likely. We've successfully delivered Zombicide, Sedition Wars, Guilds of Cadwallon, Zombicide Season 2, Relic Knights, Rivet Wars, Kaosball, Dogs of War, Arcadia Quest, Wrath of Kings, XenoShyft, our Base System, Zombicide Season 3, The World of Smog: On Her Majesty's Service, Rum & Bones, Blood Rage, B-Sieged, Zombicide: Black Plague, The Others, XenoShyft: Dreadmire and Masmorra: Dungeons of Arcadia, Arcadia Quest: Inferno, Rum & Bones: Second Tide, Massive Darkness, The World of Smog: Rise of Moloch, Rising Sun, and Zombicide: Green Horde. A Song of Ice & Fire: Tabletop Miniatures Game is currently shipping to backers.

We have three ongoing projects currently: HATE, Zombicide: Invader, and Arcadia Quest: Riders, which are in production.

Please refer to our individual project pages if you'd like to check the progress there. Each project is entirely independent from each other, has completely different development teams, and has no effect on the production flow or development of Cthulhu: Death May Die.

REFUND POLICY

We can refund you within 14 days of the campaign’s end, fees included. After that, we have a policy of no questions asked, though that’s minus Kickstarter and payment processing fees (which we can’t get back from them after 14 days). However, if we’ve begun packaging your pledge for shipment (usually 4 to 6 weeks before the actual shipping date), no refunds are possible. If a component cannot be delivered AT ALL, we refund that completely, including fees.

All refunds after the 14 days close of the campaign may be processed via Paypal or reversed via Stripe to your credit card at our discretion. Refunds within 14 days are reversed via Stripe to your credit card.

This project is being funded in USD and any refunds processed will be in USD for the exact amount received in USD, excluding any applicable fees depending on the time of the refund being processed.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

By pledging to this project, you acknowledge that the final look, materials and content of the rewards (and the project) are subject to change and may differ substantially from what is presented while the Kickstarter project was active.

If you do not log in and confirm your pledge within 8 weeks of our notification via email to confirm your pledge, you agree that we have fulfilled our obligations to you in full for payment or donations received. However, we may, at our discretion, refund or ship your pledge if you contact us and confirm your pledge after the 8 week window has elapsed. Unconfirmed pledges make it difficult for us to plan production and logistics, and in the past have led to project delays. For this project we do not intend to allow this to happen, which may mean if you confirm your pledge too late, exclusive items may not be produced in sufficient quantity for your pledge.

If you confirm your pledge within 8 weeks of our notification via email, you agree that our responsibility to you is to ship your order as entered into our pledge manager system, that title and risk passes to you upon delivery to a common carrier for such shipment, and you are responsible for import duties or any other duties that may be payable to the relevant tax authorities, providing correct address information and ensuring this address is deliverable by normal methods. We regret we are unable to ship to PO Boxes.

If you do not accept these terms, please do not pledge on this project.